{"id":6613,"date":"2013-06-19T19:25:54","date_gmt":"2013-06-19T12:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatsdavedoing.com\/?p=6613"},"modified":"2013-06-19T19:25:54","modified_gmt":"2013-06-19T12:25:54","slug":"time-i-walked-on-glacier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsdavedoing.com\/time-i-walked-on-glacier\/","title":{"rendered":"That time I walked on a glacier"},"content":{"rendered":"
New Zealand is a pretty underpopulated place. Slightly larger than the UK with about one-fifteenth of the people, nowhere outside Auckland ever really feels crowded.<\/p>\n
That said, even in this relatively human-free country, some parts are much more isolated than others. These are the kind of places where you can drive for half an hour without seeing another car, where town sizes are measured in hundreds rather than thousands, where power from the national grid has only arrived in the last decade … if it’s arrived at all.<\/p>\n
Places, in other words, like the southwest of the South Island.<\/p>\n
The combination of difficult terrain, homicidal sandflies and several metres of rain per year make this part of the country less appealing to live in for all except a particular breed of people. “Coasters”, as they’re known, are a little different to the rest of the population. Insular, independent and fiercely proud of their little patch of New Zealand, these are the kind of folks who organised a (successful) nationwide protest when it was suggested that brewing of a local beer be moved to Auckland<\/a>. That decision was reversed within four days…..<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As usual with much of the planet, the places where people aren’t are the places where nature is. The west coast is all drifting mist and thundering seas, towering mountains and dripping rainforests. Oh, and glaciers. That you can walk on.<\/p>\n So we did.<\/strong><\/p>\n We took about four hours to drive from Wanaka to Fox Glacier, but you could happily spend all day doing it. It’s one of the more beautiful road journeys in a country full of them, with photo opportunities seemingly every five minutes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Not to mention some rather incredible whitebait. Seriously, if you do nothing else on that drive, follow the little sign from the main road to the Curly Tree Whitebait Company<\/a> just outside of Haast and get the owner, Tony, to fire up the BBQ and make you a whitebait patty, coast style. Yes, even if the little eyes freak you out. The whitebait’s, that is, not Tony’s. His eyes are totally normal.<\/p>\n Fox and Franz Josef glaciers are within 20 minutes of each other, both with small service towns of the same name nearby. Walking trips were suspended on Franz Josef glacier when we were there for safety reasons – but they weren’t on Fox. Success!<\/p>\n